Billions due to be injected in next phase of inner-city rejuvenation project
JOHANNESBURG – Tenants at Vannin Court and Beaconsfield Court have already been profiled.
The City of Johannesburg launched a prospectus of properties with more than R20 billion investment value on 1 April at the Council Chambers.
The properties, most of which comprise large portions of land, will be released in areas including Randburg, Rosebank, Orange Grove, Houghton and Wynberg. The aim is to establish mixed-use developments, affordable housing and student accommodation on the released land.
Musa Makunga of the City of Joburg Property Company said the launch was Phase 3 of the rejuvenation project. He added that more than 500 properties had been identified, however, they could not release them all at once.
This follows after the City had handed over three sites to contractors to develop properties in the inner-city as part of the Inner City Rejuvenation Programme. “We started with our own properties and we could only award three,” said Makunga. “We went with the three because we wanted to learn so we could improve going forward.”
City of Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba said two private developers had committed a total investment of R204 million for 384 low-cost housing units at the three properties including Vannin Court and Beaconsfield Court in Hillbrow.
Makunga said the profiling of the tenants at Vannin Court and Beaconsfield Court have been completed. “We are engaging with the awarded bidder and land has been allocated for alternative accommodation at the contractor’s cost,” said Makunga.
The second phase of the project was the release of 81 properties for development. More than 71 bidders have been evaluated and the appointment of the successful companies was expected to be finalised soon. “We are eagerly awaiting the submission of tenders for the other 81 sites that were subsequently released for development,” said Mashaba.
“The response from developers has been so encouraging thus far that, recently, council adopted a resolution to release a further 70 properties [Phase 3] for development.”
Phase 3 will mainly include properties in Orange Grove and Houghton Estate which will be developed for mixed-use development with special emphasis on student accommodation.
“We are working with a number of people in the sector in terms of transformation,” said Makhunga. “At least 30 per cent of the construction value of the developments will go to SMMEs in the area. We are guided by the law and we would like to push it beyond that. We are transformative but we don’t want to give properties to people who won’t be able to transform them.”
Phase 3 will also include the Randburg Civic Precinct and a project in Rosebank. The Randburg project will be a mixed-use development encompassing retail space, a public transport interchange facility, clinic, and public library. The City aims to attract R1.8 billion in investment and create almost 5 000 jobs during its construction phase.
Rosebank is earmarked for an R400 million investment in a 12-story residential development with 250 units. It is expected to create 2 000 jobs.
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